Company Overview

Recognising that expertise and test services in the specialist field of EMC is either hard to come by or expensive to access, Unit 3 Compliance was founded to provide high quality EMC test, troubleshooting and consultancy services to a wide range of customers.

We are not your average test lab. We work in engineering partnership with you, bringing vital skills to your product design process. We are not an end of project obstacle to be overcome but a guide through the process. We educate, explain and assist.

EMC is not just a test, it is a process.

It is important to stress that EMC is not just a test discipline. In fact, successful product compliance is designed in from the very start of the project. Our approach is to work closely with you all the way through the product life cycle to minimise your overall cost of EMC compliance and help get your product to market on time and on budget.

Failure to consider EMC at the start of the project will generally result in extra cost, extra time and extra stress being added. As the project approaches production the number of available fixes dramatically decreases (understandably no one wants to rip up their design right before making thousands of products) and their cost dramatically increases. There is no substitute for considering EMC right from the start.

Are there any restrictions on how my product can operate in these countries? For example, power consumption or efficiency requirements, licensed bands, provision of accessories, software features, etc.

How much time do I need to allocate in my project plan for these activities?

How many product samples are required, in what configuration, what support software, etc.

Case Study

We were brought in late on to one project where the regulatory requirements had not been adequately considered up front. Our investigations showed that in-country testing was required for some product features and standards body accredited radio testing for the Wi-Fi module. Neither of these had been factored in to the project plan or budgeted for at the start, meaning the client was facing a significant delay in the schedule, unexpected costs of several thousand dollars and a very disappointed, penalty-clause-invoking end customer.

Thankfully a happy ending: we were able to source testing services and liaise with the test labs and the destination country’s authorities to help the client bring the approvals in on time avoiding any penalty clauses.

Design

The design process crystallises the project specification into something real and is the ideal time for experienced eyes to look over the design. Our Design Review Service checks out your design from an EMC and regulatory compliance perspective. If you want to add wireless capability such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to your product but aren’t sure how to go about it then we can assist with this also.

We also regularly assist companies with smaller design enquiries, everything from recommending mains filters and PCB layout questions through to ESD protection for sensitive circuitry and enclosure design advice.

System Setup and Software Specification

A significant part of the success of EMC testing is how well you prepare for the testing. Your product needs to be operating in it’s worst case mode(s) for emissions testing. For immunity testing the performance of the product must be monitored to ensure the tests do not affect it.

What about emissions from your support equipment? How should I monitor the performance of my product? What is the worst case test mode? How do I activate that?

We’ll help get you prepared for your visit to our lab by ensuring you’ve got everything lined up and ready to go, minimising any setup time once you are here.

This includes looking at your test setup, support equipment, the software that is running on the product to make sure that you are ready for testing.

Product Test

We offer a wide range of test services and our EMC test lab is the perfect place to get to evaluate the performance of your product. EMC testing is a main area of expertise for us and we are very good at improving performance and fixing non-compliant products.

To further support your design we can also give your product a shake down (literally) on our vibration machine and test performance throughout the specified temperature and humidity range in one of our environmental chambers.

Accredited Laboratory Pre-Test

Should your requirements call for a final test at a lab that carries specific accreditations then we can perform pre-compliance testing to help ensure that it passes first time. This reduces the risk of extra work at a critical stage of the project.

Not all accredited bodies are created equally and, having worked with many of them on previous projects, we can help you select the best one for your product. We can liaise with these bodies on your behalf (we speak fluent “test lab”) and baby sit the products through the testing process for you, remotely or on site if required. This frees up your engineering and project management team to focus on the big picture.

Compliance Documentation

EMC standards are a constantly changing landscape and, as such, the EU Declaration of Conformity for your product will be a constantly evolving document. We can help with reviews of your existing product reports, advise on requirements for documentation and monitor standards for any changes that might affect your product. We can also help you build your Technical File and Declaration of Conformity (DoC) for your CE mark.

We don’t just get involved with EMC either. We can assist you in demonstrating compliance to other directives like the Low Votlage Directive (LVD) and Machinery Directive (MD) amongst others through our network of partners.

Manufacturing and Support

Under EU regulations (for example) there is a responsibility on the manufacturer to ensure ongoing conformity to the EMC Directive by controlling the production process to ensure that all units remain consistent and compliant. We can support your product through production by supporting cost down activities, testing alternates to EMC critical components and performing production sample testing for ongoing compliance verification.